Gas-removing box for a liquid circuit

ABSTRACT

A gas-removing box which may be incorporated in the cooling liquid circuit of an internal combustion engine. For the purpose of rendering the rates of flow of the liquid streams uniform, the box comprises a mass of synthetic foam or like material having open cells whereby it is possible to achieve an excellent separation of the gas or steam bubbles from the liquid notwithstanding the particularly low price of the box.

United States Patent 119 [111 3,775,947

Dupont et al. Dec. 4, 1973 [54] GAS-REMOVING BOX FOR A LIQUID 3,648,438 3/1972 Arbogast 55/l9l CIRCUIT 1 3,217,715 I H1965 Berger et 21].. 55/387 Inventors: Michel Dupont, Mareil-Marly; Henri Lacroix, Neuilly; Jacques Lagarde, Montbeliard, all of France Assignees: Automobiles Peugeot, Paris; Regie National des Usines Renault, Billancourt, both of France Filed: Oct. 18, 1971 Appl. No. 190,003

Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 30, 1970 France 7039190 "References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Gaertner 55/52 Wheeler 55/337 Primary Examiner-Charles N. Hart Atz0rney-Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis [5 7 ABSTRACT A gas-removing box which may be incorporated in the cooling liquid circuit of an internal combustion engine.

For the purpose of rendering the rates of flow of the liquid streams uniform, the box comprises a mass of synthetic foam or like material having open cells whereby it is possible to achieve an excellent separation of the gas or steam bubbles from the liquid notwithstanding the particularly low price of the box.

10 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure GAS-REMOVING BOX FOR A LIQUID CIRCUIT The present invention relates to devices for removing gas from a liquid flowing in a conduit or pipe, this conduit being for example a part of the cooling circuit of an internal combustion engine.

it is known that in the particular case of a coolingcircuit, the bubbles of gas or steam in suspension inthe cooling liquid are usually removed in a gas-removing box which also performs the function of an expansion vessel. Unfortunately, the available space and the location of the box do not always enable this box to be made big enough to ensure a rate of circulation of the liquid which is low enough to result in an efficient removal of gas. it is then necessary to dispose in the box baffles constituted in particular by partitions or metal gauze adapted to preclude disorderly movement of the liquid and thus facilitate the separation of the gases from the liquid. This results in a considerable complication of these gas-removing boxes and a corresponding increase in their price without however producing perfectly satisfactory results.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gas removing box which is particularly efficient and yet simple in construction and cheap.

The invention provides a box comprising an inlet conduit for the liquid containing the gas and an outlet conduit for the liquid from which gas has been removed, and baffle means interposed between the conduits, wherein said baffle means comprise a mass of a material which has a tridimensional reticulated structure, two free opposed faces and affords throughout its mass a network of intercommunicating cavities which form between the free faces sinuous passages none of which constitutes a preferential passage.

This material may be for example a synthetic foam known per se similar to the foam employed in particular in fuel tanks toreduce explosion hazards; a wad of knitted synthetic filament similar to scouring wads employed by housewives or a block constituted by evenly-distributed synthetic fibres without preferential orientation and interconnected by a binder such as a thermosetting resin which coats each of the fibres and connects them at their'points of contact.

Whatever the material employed, the percentage of cavities must exceed 90 percent and be preferably between 95 and 98 percent and the average dimension of the cavities must be of the order of 2-5 mm.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description with reference to the single FIGURE showing a sectional view of a gas-removing box according to the invention. Such a box can be placed of course in any liquid circuit from which it is desired to remove gas in an efficient manner, for example in the cooling circuit of an internal combustion engine.

The body of the box comprises two portions 1 and 2 which are interconnected in a fluidtight manner by screws 3. A sealing element or gasket 4 is preferably interposed between these two portions. An inlet conduit 5 and an outlet conduit 6 communicate with the interior of the box. The latter is provided in its upper part with a plug 7 having a calibrated valve of known type which maintains the internal pressure between two predetermined limits. The centre part of the inside of the box is filled with a block or mass 8 of a material having a tridimensional reticulated structure which defines in the box two chambers 9 and 10 with which communicate respectively the conduit .5 supplying the liquid emulsion and the conduit 6 discharging the gas-free liquid.

There may be employed for constructing the mass 8 for example:

a synthetic foam produced from polyurethane or polyester having about 97% of hollows and whose cells or pores have dimensions of the order of 2-3 mm. Such a foam is currently employed for filling fuel tanks so as to reduce explosion hazards which is of course a completely different application to that of the present invention;

Fknitted synthetic filament constituting a wad similar to the wads employed by housewives for scouring plates and saucepans;

a material constituted by synthetic fibres or filaments distributed without a preferential orientation butqin a roughly constant number per unit volume, these fibres being coated with a binder, such as a thermosetting resimwhich interconnects them in the region of their points of contact and produces a coherent assembly. Such a material is known per se and is employed for scouring padsknown under the trade-mark SCOTCH BRITE or for filtering gaseous fluids, depending on the characteristics chosen for the material.

In any case, it can be assumed that this material is roughly homogeneous and isotropic, which is not the case with metal grills or baffles employed in the prior art.

This device operates in a very simple manner The liquid containing bubbles of gas which arrives by way of the conduit 5 must pass right through the mass 8 before escaping by way of the conduit 6. Owing to the very highnumber of intercommunicating cavities that this liquid must pass through, the liquid flows in a very sinuous path andany rapidmovement is calmed or braked so that the gas or steam bubbles have time to rise to the surface, with theresult that the stream of liquid which reaches the outlet conduit 6 is free of gas.

It may be mentioned that the mass of foam or other material disposed in the gas-removing box constitutes a filter capable of arresting solid. bodies in suspension in the liquid, which constitutes a further advantage. The block can moreover be replaced periodically very cheaply owing to the cheapness of the material and the simplicity of the operation.

it will be understood that the shape of the box is not critical, the essential feature being that the chambers 9 and 10 be completely separated by the mass of foam or other material with no preferential passage through which a part of the liquid might flow at higher speed and draw along the gas bubbles to the outlet conduit. Further, the nature of the material employed in the construction of the mass depends on the characteristics of the liquid to be treated, it being understood that this material must be perfectly inert with respect to the liquid with which it is constantly in contact.

We claim: r

l. A device combined with a liquid circuit for removing gas from the liquid flowing in the circuit, said device comprising means defining a box, an inlet conduit connected to an upstream part of said circuit and an outlet conduit connected to a downstream part of said circuit, which conduits communicate with the interior of the box and are disposed adjacent opposite ends of said box, the box being arranged to conduct liquid therethrough in a substantially horizontal direction,

and baffle means within the box and interposed between the conduits, the baffle means comprising a mass of a material which extends fully across the box in a generally vertical plane so as to engage the top bottom and side inner walls of the box transversely of the horizontal direction of flow of said liquid and has a tridimensional reticulated structure which defines throughout the mass of the material interconnecting macroscopic cavities which form sinuous throughway passages in said mass, which passages extend in substantially all directions in said mass, none of which passages constitute a preferential passage, the percentage of said cavities in said mass being more than 90 percent, the mass being arranged to allow passage of liquid substantially horizontally from said inlet conduit to said outlet conduit while causing gas bubbles to rise vertically therewithin and transversely from said liquid, and gas outlet means positioned at an upper portion of said box for discharging such risen gas from the box.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said box comprises two portions and means detachably interconnecting said portions so as to allow access to and replacement of said mass of material.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the average size of the cavities is substantially 25 mm.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the mass of material the percentage of cavities represents -98 percent of the mass, the cavities having an average dimension of the order of 2-3 mm.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said material is reticulated synthetic foam having open cells constituting said cavities.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said foam is polyurethane foam.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said foam is polyester foam.

8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mass is a wad of knitted synthetic filament.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mass is constituted by substantially uniformly distributed synthetic fibres having no preferential orientation and a binder which coats each one of said fibres and interconnects said fibres at points of contact therebetween.

10. A device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said binder is a thermosetting resin. 

1. A device combined with a liquid circuit for removing gas from the liquid flowing in the circuit, said device comprising means defining a box, an inlet conduit connected to an upstream part of said circuit and an outlet conduit connected to a downstream part of said circuit, which conduits communicate with the interior of the box and are disposed adjacent opposite ends of said box, the box being arranged to conduct liquid therethrough in a substantially horizontal direction, and baffle means within the box and interposed between the conduits, tHe baffle means comprising a mass of a material which extends fully across the box in a generally vertical plane so as to engage the top bottom and side inner walls of the box transversely of the horizontal direction of flow of said liquid and has a tridimensional reticulated structure which defines throughout the mass of the material interconnecting macroscopic cavities which form sinuous throughway passages in said mass, which passages extend in substantially all directions in said mass, none of which passages constitute a preferential passage, the percentage of said cavities in said mass being more than 90 percent, the mass being arranged to allow passage of liquid substantially horizontally from said inlet conduit to said outlet conduit while causing gas bubbles to rise vertically therewithin and transversely from said liquid, and gas outlet means positioned at an upper portion of said box for discharging such risen gas from the box.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said box comprises two portions and means detachably interconnecting said portions so as to allow access to and replacement of said mass of material.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the average size of the cavities is substantially 2- 5 mm.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the mass of material the percentage of cavities represents 95- 98 percent of the mass, the cavities having an average dimension of the order of 2- 3 mm.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said material is reticulated synthetic foam having open cells constituting said cavities.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said foam is polyurethane foam.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said foam is polyester foam.
 8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mass is a wad of ''''knitted'''' synthetic filament.
 9. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mass is constituted by substantially uniformly distributed synthetic fibres having no preferential orientation and a binder which coats each one of said fibres and interconnects said fibres at points of contact therebetween.
 10. A device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said binder is a thermosetting resin. 